Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire (2010–) is an American television series airing on HBO. Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the Prohibition era, it is written by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Terence Winter.

Arnold Rothstein: There was a man once, I don't recall his name, frequented the billiard parlors downtown. He made a comfortable living wagering whether he could swallow certain objects, billiard balls being a specialty. He'd pick a ball, take it down his gullet, to here, and regurgitate it back up. One evening, I decided to challenge this man to a wager. Ten thousand in cash for him to do the trick with a billiard ball of my choosing. Now he knew I'd seen him do this a dozen times so I can only surmise that he thought I was stupid. We laid down the cash and I handed him the cue ball. He swallowed it down, it lodged in his throat, and he choked to death on the spot. What I knew and he didn't was that the cue ball is one sixteenth of an inch larger than the other balls, just too large to swallow. Do you know what the moral of this tale is, Mr. Yale?

Frankie Yale: Don't eat a cue ball?

Arnold Rothstein: The moral of the story is: If I'd cause a stranger to choke to death for my own amusement, what do you think I'll do to you if you don't tell me who ordered you to kill Collisimo?

Margaret Schroeder: Would you help me, Mr. Thompson? All I want is to provide for my children.

Nucky Thompson: I'd like to help you.

Margaret Schroeder: Then tell me what to do. What do you want from me?

Chalky White: I was born in Elgin, Texas. My daddy taught himself the carpenter trade doing for the black folk there. I tell you, anything that man put his hand to - table, chair, wedding chest - he make that wood sing. Now one day, a man, Mr. T. O. Persall, come 'round. He a white man, own his own store, stable, hotel. He say to my daddy: "I hears you the finest carpenter in Elgin." My daddy tell him: "Well, I can't say one way or the other, but I knows a bit about somethin'." So Mr. T. O. Persall take my daddy to this house he was building. Biggest house in town. They walk in there, say: "This here gon' be the library. What you think 'bout that?" My daddy say: "Well, I think you need some bookcases." "Well then, that's what I want you to make me." 10 months my daddy worked there. And when he finished, he bring me 'round. "Mr. Persall, this here my boy. I'd like to show him what I done." "Well, come on in! Through the front door!" Just like that! And we did. When I see them bookcases, all covered with scroll and flowers, baskets of fruit, little angels floatin' in the corner... that was the most beautiful thing I ever seen. About a month later, another man come 'round. "I see what you did for T. O. Can't let that old dog top me. You come 'round my house, I'll show you what I need." My daddy go with him to the edge of town. Wasn't nothin' there but 6 white men, 12 foot of rope, and the pepper tree they hung him from. [pause, Chalky takes out some carpentry tools] These here my daddy's tools.

Grand Cyclops of the KKK: [afraid] What are you gonna do with them?

Chalky White: Well... I ain't buildin' no bookcase...

Lucky Luciano: I'm a friend of James.

Gillian Darmody: His friends call him Jimmy, so who are you really?

Lucky Luciano: I'm a, whatchacallit, an acquaintance. From New York.

Gillian Darmody: That part I suspected. What's your name?

Lucky Luciano: Never mind my name. Is he here or ain't he?

Gillian Darmody: He's not.

Lucky Luciano: Then where is he?

Gillian Darmody: Maybe he's up your ass. Have you considered looking there?

Eli Thompson: The whole thing's a game isn't it? So easy for you. Well, I'll keep at it. Maybe one day I'll lie as good as you.

Nucky Thompson: It's "lie as well as me", you dolt. You wanna be taken seriously, then learn how to fuckin' speak.

Bill Fallon: [about the case against Rothstein for fixing the World Series] You get mud on your trousers, or horse shit, you don't rub it off. You let it dry and set awhile, then you brush it off nice and easy.

Arnold Rothstein: The World Series was months ago, Lawyer Fallon, and the horse shit hasn't dried yet!

Richard Harrow: Hrrm. You want this? [brings out a book] My sister sends them to me, cause I used to enjoy 'em.

Jimmy Darmody: You don't anymore?

Richard Harrow: Hrrm. It occurred to me the basis of fiction is that people have some sort of connection with each other. Hrrm. But they don't.

Liam: The whore, Pearl... I was just doing Sheridan's bidding.

Jimmy Darmody: Relax, I'm not gonna kill you. Did you serve, Liam? In the war.

Liam: I had pneumatic fever.

Jimmy Darmody: 3 years. France, mostly. It's almost impossible to describe the horror. It's a living... waking... nightmare. There was a soldier, a German; him and his men tried to attack our position in the Argonne forest. It was nighttime. While he was trying to climb through some barbwire, I shot him twice; once in the stomach, once in the neck. He slumped over the barbwire, and no matter what he did to try and wriggle free, it just got worse for him. I left him there, like that, for days, listening to him moaning, crying, "mutti, mutti, mutti". That's German for "mama"; "mama", that's what he kept saying. The curious thing is that despite the fact that his situation was utterly hopeless, he didn't wanna die. I offered to kill him several times, but he just kept fighting. Like some miracle would befall him, get him out of his predicament. We hold on so desperately to life. Some people feel, certainly in that soldier's situation, that being alive is much, much worse. [pause] I'm gonna go now. I don't wanna ever see you again.

Nucky Thompson: Gentlemen of the Fourth Estate. Tragic though it is, I need hardly remind you that the passage of the 18th Amendment has given rise to a new breed of criminals. Vicious thugs, emboldened by the promise of an easy dollar. Last January, in the woods, only a few miles from where I speak to you today, a horrible massacre occurred. Five men, bootleggers all, were cut down in cold blood by a rival gang. The suspected ringleader of the killers, Hans Schroeder, was found dead days later, caught in a fisherman's net in one of our piers. Due to the tireless work of my brother, former sheriff Eli Thompson, we have since learned the Schroeder's conspirators in this cowardly attack were a group of killers laid to Philadelphia, well-known to law enforcement as the D'Alessio brothers. I am happy to report, they are being sought for questioning as I speak. Motivated by political gain, the Democrats have argued that the incumbent administration has been rife with corruption, soft on crime. On this election eve, I submit to you this: while this heinous crime did certainly occur on the Republican watch, the apprehension of those responsible did as well. Vote for Edward Bader tomorrow, and keep our city safe. I thank you all, and God bless America!

Margaret Schroeder: There's a kindness in you. I know it. How can you do what you do?

Nucky Thompson: We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with.

Jimmy Darmody: I know you're not happy, Angela. I know there are things that you think about me that you're afraid to say. I'm gonna make it up to you. I'm gonna get everything settled once and for all. You'll see. I can be the person you want me to be.

Gillian Darmody: There will have to be a funeral, of course. It's important that everything look right. There won't be many people there, anyway. She didn't have a very wide circle, did she? The other one... not a local girl. They're trying to find some family. Not our concern. We'll need to consider Tommy. I told him, "Mommy went away for a few days to paint." That buys us some time. I think, tell me if I'm wrong, we'll say that she went to live with her friends in Paris, and she wants her little boy to stay here, where he'll be safe with his daddy, who works so hard, and his meemaw, who loves him so very much. And, you know what? A month from now - and I don't mean to sound cold - he won't even remember who she was...

Richard Harrow: [describing killing Horvitz] I waited, outside his house. I used a shotgun, very close.

Nucky Thompson: May I ask why?

Richard Harrow: Angela Darmody.

Nucky Thompson: Not her husband?

Richard Harrow: Jimmy was a soldier. He fought, he lost.

Nucky' Thompson: So I can assume my family and I are safe?

Richard Harrow: You and Mrs. Thompson were good to me. You have nothing to fear.

Nucky Thompson: How many people have you killed?

Richard Harrow: 63.

Nucky Thompson: Do you think about any of them?

Richard Harrow: You know the answer to that, yourself.

Gyp Rosetti: "Bone For Tuna". What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Tonino Sandretti: The kid's Irish. The pronunciation was off...

Gyp Rosetti: I know what he meant! Who the fuck is Nucky Thompson to wish me good luck? In Italian, no less, like he's fuckin' mocking me? He's real fuckin' cute, I'll tell you that! Sets me up to lose, pulls out of the whiskey deal at the last minute, and then says "bon fortuna" like he's rootin' for me to get back on my feet. Push me off a cliff, why don't ya?

Tonino Sandretti: I don't think...

Gyp Rosetti: Good luck flappin' your arms on the way down! Am I right?

Tonino Sandretti: Sure, but...

Gyp Rosetti: The attitude on him. Scrawny Irish prick. I need his blessing to make my way in the world?

Tonino Sandretti: I don't...

Gyp Rosetti: I need him to lecture me? Nothing's personal? What the fuck is life if it's not personal?

Arnold Rothstein: And what would you know about it, conducting yours like a drunken shopkeeper?

Nucky Thompson: Alright, Arnold. You're allowed to blow off steam.

Arnold Rothstein: It's not alright. Do you think I entered into this arrangement because I value your companionship? You are a convenience, of geography and supply. You promised a quantity and a price. You have failed to deliver! And now, owing to your inability to manage your affairs in New Jersey - a state I have little interest in or affection for - you expect me to start a war? In New York? Where things actually matter?

Nucky' Thompson: I expect you to understand that Gyp Rossetti is trouble for everyone. I lost an entire convoy...

Arnold Rothstein: Because of your own cavalierness! Because you run off to Manhattan at a moment's notice to rut with some showgirl!

Nucky Thompson: You'd be wise to leave Miss Kent out of this.

Arnold Rothstein: Why? You can't. Do you even begin to understand how weak that makes you look?

Nucky Thompson: That's a big noise from a man who is dead below the waist.

Arnold Rothstein: I practice discretion.

Nucky Thompson: You practice bullshit! Who the fuck are you, Arnold, aside from a little weasel with a good poker face?

Eddie Cantor: [discussing the male lead of "The Naughty Virgin"] He dances like a... what do you call a horse whose kischkes have been cut off?

Joe Masseria: [to Rosetti, in Italian] I can't control you, I can't rely on you, and now I can't afford you.

Gyp Rosetti: [nervous] It's Easter Sunday, Joe.

Joe Masseria: Also April Fool's.

Gyp Rosetti: So what're we jokin' about?

Joe Masseria: I'm not joking. [gets up and walks away as his men advance on Rosetti]

Gyp Rosetti: Nucky Thompson. Arnold Rothstein.

Joe Masseria: What about them?

Gyp Rosetti: They're not losin' sleep about no 20 blocks of road on the East Side. They're workin' together. They're buildin' something a lot bigger than you and me.

Joe Masseria: Then let them do what they want.

Gyp Rosetti: Because you think you got what you have, right? But not for long. Things are changin'. That Luciano kid...

Joe Masseria: I straightened him out. You don't want...

Gyp Rosetti: He's not like you and me! Look who he works for, Joe! They're buildin' something, and it don't include us! Who's gonna own this place, huh? Heebs and Micks and back-stabbin' fucks that don't respect where they come from! After all the blood we put into it! [in Italian] What about us? What happens to us? [in English] You do what you gotta do with me, but you're gonna be in a war whether you like it or not.

Joe Masseria: Ah, you gonna save me, huh?

Gyp Rosetti: Give me your blessing. Let me finish what I started, but this time with enough juice to make it stick. I'll bring you Thompson.

Joe Masseria: What do I care about Thompson?

Gyp Rosetti: And I'll bring you Rothstein. Luciano and the kikes he runs with. I'll kill 'em all. And when I'm through, they're not gonna call you Joe the Boss no more - they're gonna call you Joe the King.

Gyp Rosetti: [talking to God in church] I just need to get this said. No disrespect, but you put me down in this game. I didn't ask for that. Make me want things, things I can see, that I can almost touch... then you take 'em away. Not for me, right? Everyone else, but not me. I'm, what, a mistake you made? Like some leftovers? And I'm supposed to go through my life, no friendship, no love, till I'm pissin' in my bed and coughin' up blood on the sheets? Then I'll know, right? Then it'll be clear. [shouting] Put it in front of me, take it away! Why would you do that? Just to screw with me? What kind of sick fuck thinks that way? I'm supposed to trust you. Based on the treatment so far? What're you up to, huh? I'm here! I'm listenin'! I'm ready for any kind of explanation!

Nucky Thompson: You have to understand: No matter what you think of me, there's no walking away. It doesn't work like that. I do it to them, or they do it to me. And that's all there is.

Margaret Thompson: And the men in your office?

Nucky Thompson: Either they're with me and we go to war, or they'll smile, shake my hand and walk away. I'll be alone, and that's as good as dead.

Gyp Rosetti: That's 1200 cases, 24 bottles per... that 28,800 bottles. That's math. That's useful. That's what my father used, on account he laid bricks. He built churches, bridges... he came home at night, he smelled like sweat, not fish. Broke his back, dead at 50. Layin' around in a fuckin' boat, he would seen 100, but not him. Not fuckin' him. Not like your father, right, Franco?

Gyp Rosetti: [to Chalky] I'm gonna be runnin' things now. People tell me you're the man to see on this side of the fence... Mr White. We really need all these guns?

Chalky White: Not if you put yours down first.

[At Tonino's motion, Rosetti's men put down their weapons. Chalky's men do the same]

Gyp Rosetti: Look at us now. We're almost kissin'. I'm not lookin' to put my hands in your pockets. However things used to work, I don't operate that way. I mean, look at me, look at you. We got a lot in common, eh?

Chalky White: And what's that?

Gyp Rosetti: We both got left out in the sun too long. [smiles] Maybe you a little longer.

Chalky White: You just ain't done cookin' yet, friend.

Al Capone: We've been on the road for 18 hours. I need a bath and some chow. Then you and me sit down... and we talk about who dies.

Gyp Rosetti: New rules, boys. From now on, I'm only selling hooch every other Thursday. I'm an important person. I have important friends. I have important garters to hold up my very important socks! Do you know who the fuck I am?

Tonino Sandretti: [chuckling] You're Nucky Thompson.

Gyp Rosetti: I'm Barney Googoo, with the goo-goo-googly eyes! AND I NEVER, EVER TAKE ANYTHING PERSONAL!

Nucky Thompson: [to Tonino, after he kills Rosetti] Tell Masseria this can be the end of it, or the beginning. I'll meet him either way.

Arnold Rothstein: A small town gladhander, peeking up over the fence, eager to stick his finger in a new piece of pie.

Nucky Thompson: I don't like pie.

Arnold Rothstein: Well, I have learned something new about you.

[Lansky wants to go into business with Nucky]

Nucky Thompson: Tell me something about yourself.

Meyer Lansky: I'm a businessman. Charlie and I partnered in several high level endeavors...

Nucky Thompson: No. About yourself. What kind of man you are.

[pause]

Meyer Lansky: When I was a boy, my father moved us from Russia to the Upper East Side. He was weak, my father - never stood up. One day, on the way to school, I was stopped by a gang of older boys. The leader said he wanted my lunch money. I told him, go fuck himself. He laughed, said he'd beat it out of me, so I spit in his face. He did beat me - they all did - and he took my money. Next day, same thing: Again I spit in his face, again we fought. But the third day, the kid asked me to join his gang. He was Charlie Luciano. That's how we teamed up. Last year, we made more money than the President of the United States. And I think you will find us to be responsible partners, both here and in Florida, should you need eyes on the investment.

Nucky Thompson: $500,000.

Meyer Lansky: Done.

Nucky Thompson: In 48 hours.

Meyer Lansky: Done.

Nucky Thompson: [extending his hand] The money doesn't show, this conversation never happened - and it won't ever happen again.

Nucky Thompson: Whatever occurred, it's over. Every now and then you'll think about the terrible thing that occurred to a boy whose face you can't quite remember. I promise you, you can live with it.

Willie Thompson: Is that what you do?

Nucky Thompson: [pause] You're going to graduate. We'll get you into another school, if that's what's required. It's not important now. You worry about what other people might say, you worry about someone who you call a friend - none of that matters. The only thing that you can count on is blood, the blood that's in your veins and the blood that's in mine. People who discount you? They don't know who you are. The rage you feel - listen to me carefully: it's a gift. Use it, but don't let anyone see it. Know that I'm watching over you. Show me the person you intend to be.

Chalky White: [to Nucky] Heard a lot of "we" last year, when you was in trouble. Now it's just "you."

Dean O'Banion: [holding Van Alden at gunpoint] How's about the truth, Mueller? One more "I'm sorry", "I don't know", "I'm not looking for any trouble", and I will pop your head open like a melon.

Nelson Van Alden: I didn't kill Stu. Al Capone did. But I have killed other men. The one you know about, the three that attacked me... and my partner.

Dean O'Banion: Your what?

Nelson Van Alden: I was a Prohibition agent. I drowned him with my bare hands. My name isn't Mueller. I'm not legally married to my wife. I used to believe in God, but now I don't believe in anything at all.

Nucky Thompson: You assure me your intentions are honorable, that you and your partner have big plans for the future.

Meyer Lansky: If you just let me speak...

Nucky Thompson: I let you in on the deal, things are going great. And then what do you do the second you get the chance?

Meyer Lansky: Mr. Thompson...

Nucky Thompson: You stick it up my fucking ass!

Meyer Lansky: We were coerced, Charlie and I! By Masseria. He found out about Tampa from his cousin.

Eli Thompson: Petrocelli.

Meyer Lansky: And realized he could use it to his advantage.

Nucky Thompson: As did you and your greaseball partner.

Meyer Lansky: He would've killed us if we didn't go along!

Nucky Thompson: You think I fucking won't?

Meyer Lansky: I know that is a distinct possibility, sir, though I do pray to God that it won't happen. If it were up to me, sir, I'd have nothing to do with narcotics. There is plenty of money to be made in booze, which is a safer and eminently more socially acceptable...

Nucky Thompson: [slaps him across the face] You've got two fucking seconds to drop the boy scout routine, or you're going in that hole!

Meyer Lansky: There's a fortune to be made in heroin. Millions and millions of dollars. Now, I don't know about you, but the way I saw it, it was the same life I was risking either way. I'm beggin' you, Mr. Thompson, please! What would you have done if you were me?

Eli Thompson: What? A man in a an empty hotel, pointing a gun at his brother?

Nucky Thompson: I did it for the family.

Eli Thompson: You don't have a family. I do. Now you're gonna take that too? Nothing will fill that hole you got inside you. Don't you know that yet?

Nucky Thompson: This is your mess, Eli. Drown in it.

J. Edgar Hoover: You seem to be a clever fellow. Who do you think gets to decide what the truth is?

Valentin Narcisse: Truth is what those in power wish it to be.

J. Edgar Hoover: During the course of investigating the seditious activities of Marcus Garvey, James M. Tolliver, Special Agent with the Bureau of Investigation, was murdered in Atlantic City, New Jersey by an unidentified colored male. Dr. Valentin Narcisse assisted the Bureau in apprehending the suspect. He further agreed, during a private conversation with Director Hoover, to provide ongoing, secret intelligence regarding Mr. Garvey, with particular concern to his radical agenda and his ties to foreign powers.

Valentin Narcisse: And why would he do that?

J. Edgar Hoover: To demonstrate his commitment to the values of his adopted land.

Valentin Narcisse: Brother Garvey is a hero, dedicated to liberation of a great people.

J. Edgar Hoover: But you are not. You are just a peddler and a pimp sitting in a jail cell.

Valentin Narcisse: I am a businessman and a follower of Christ.

J. Edgar Hoover: You agree to cooperate, you can go on pretending to be anything you want. You don't, and I will make sure you never see daylight in America again.

Valentin Narcisse: [to himself] The fisher returned to the days of the ewe and the rod.

Ethan Thompson: [to young Nucky] It took your mother three days to birth you. I was out in the water. I didn't know if I was a father or a widower. I come home, she's in bed with her hair down, her beautiful hair. A boy in her arms. My boy. [He strokes Nucky's hair, and then hits him in the face] You're the son of a fisherman. And what are you trying to catch?

Nelson Van Alden: I get the feeling that my boss doesn't like me very much.

[Capone has a gun on Van Alden and has given him 30 seconds to explain himself]

Nelson Van Alden: I've worked for you for seven years. I set up Dean O'Banion. I make my number every week. Maybe I'm a federal agent, maybe I'm a bigamist, maybe I'm a murderer on the run. Believe what you want, there's no way I can stop you. But that's not what matters now.

Al Capone: It's not?

Nelson Van Alden: [indicating Luciano] What matters is that this man comes in from out of town and starts telling Capone what to do about Capone's business in Capone's house? You ask me, that's pretty goddamn disrespectful.

[After a moment, Capone lowers the gun]

Al Capone: [to Luciano] You can rule by fear, or you can rule by love. Remember that, if you're ever in charge. Get him a drink.

Nucky Thompson: Been busy today, hmm? What's your name? You must have a name.

Gillian Darmody: Nellie Bly.

Nucky Thompson: Don't cut shines with me. That's what it says on the book. I'm Nucky. That's my brother Eli. It's not as bad as you think. Just tell me your name.

Gillian Darmody: Gillian.

Nucky Thompson: That's not a name for a boy.

Gillian Darmody: I'm not a boy.

[Nucky hands Joe Harper a $100 bill]

Nucky Thompson: Take it.

Joe Harper: No, sir.

Nucky Thompson: Why not?

Joe Harper: You just had a rough night, that's all. Besides, if you only help people to help yourself, what kind of world would it be?

Nucky Thompson: Someone I was close to just died because of me. Last thing I heard her say was, "have your coffee." She's gone... and I'm still here. What kind of world is that? [holds out the money] Come on, now. It's not helping yourself. It's helping me.

Commodore Louis Kaestner: In the end, we do what we have the nerve for, or we disappear

Nucky Thompson: I was a bellboy. The first time I was tipped a nickel, I thought, "The world is a wonderful place... but a dime, a dime would be better." Then it was a quarter.

Margaret Thompson: Here is an experiment for you. Think about the things you want in life, then picture yourself in a dress.

Lucky Luciano: [addressing the Commission] This table, it's round for a reason: 'Cause no one sits at the head. There's no boss - there's seven bosses. A commission. Five families in New York, plus Buffalo and Chicago. Nobody gets made, unless we all approve. Put it to a vote. Any beefs, wherever you go - New Orleans, Kansas City, St. Louis - they all get settled here by us, before things get out of hand. The old way of doin' things, it's over. The mustache petes are in the ground. Our friends, our partners - the Jews, the Irish, what have you. If it's good for business, it's good for us. There's no point in limiting our opportunities. The future is ours, boys.